Nova Scotia has ‘to raise’ its tourism game

Ferry review panel calls for changes, can’t agree how best to attract visitors

Donna Hatt, marketing and product development manager for White Point Beach Resort in Queens County, said it’s clear from a recent travel show she attended in Boston that a number of Americans won't visit Nova Scotia this year because of the loss of the ferry service between Maine and Yarmouth. (BEVERLEY WARE / South Shore Bureau)

Tourism in Nova Scotia needs a major overhaul to reverse a downward trend that has plagued the billion-dollar sector for a decade, tourism experts say.

“It’s a new world and the traditional destinations, Nova Scotia very much included, will have to raise their game,” a review panel on the defunct Yarmouth-to-Maine ferry recently concluded.

While tourism operators in the province agree the industry needs a facelift, they diverge on how Nova Scotia can better compete for tourist dollars.

With the province set to release a five-year strategic tourism plan soon, a number of business leaders have weighed in on ways to attract more visitors and improve their experience in the province.

“We’re in the middle right now of forging a new direction,” said Darlene Grant Fiander, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia.

“Nova Scotia has been losing market share, and in particular international market share, and part of it is how we’ve positioned ourselves in the global economy. The industry is hungry for a new approach to tourism.”

Nova Scotia has traditionally relied on visitors from the New England states and Canada to fill the province’s inns, beaches and whale watching tours.

Yet between 2002 and 2010, overnight visits to Nova Scotia by United States leisure travellers declined by 36 per cent due to a high Canadian dollar, ballooning fuel prices, passport requirements and the economic downturn, according to the ferry review panel.

Nova Scotia is also competing with cheap airfares to exotic destinations and mass-market cruise vacations, as well as Internet and social media advertising, the panel found.

The decline in visitors has been a serious blow to the province’s $1.8-billion tourism sector.

Donna Hatt, marketing and product development manager at White Point Beach Resort, said the province already has world-class attractions.

“It’s about how we wrap that up and market it effectively. We haven’t been savvy about rolling up our sleeves and presenting ourselves well.”

Hatt said the southwestern region of Nova Scotia has the UNESCO biosphere reserve, petroglyphs within the Kejimkujik National Historic Site and a number of adventure tours.

“Where else can you go on a tour to collect sea vegetables or dulse? We have so much for outdoor enthusiasts, we just need to carve out that niche and market it effectively.”

Part of the province’s tourism focus should be on co-ordinating activities in the province, Hatt said. Visitor experiences could be offered to tourists through package tours that include outdoor adventures or volunteer activities, accommodations and meals.

“We need to package and market what the province already has with a little more pizazz.”

Saskia Geerts, owner of the Digby Backpackers Inn, said the province needs to bolster its transportation infrastructure and signage.

For visitors that fly into Halifax, she said, securing a rental vehicle is difficult and costly and public transportation is sparse and unco-ordinated.

“We could improve even basic things like co-ordinating bus, train and ferry schedules to make travelling around the region on public transportation easier.”

Geerts said the province should also invest in improving road signage.

“If you pick up a car rental in downtown Halifax and try to get out of town, there are no signs leading you to the highway. Coming into Halifax from the Peggys Cove direction, I tell people to follow the signs to the hospital because the signage for downtown is non-existent.”

John Riddell, president of the Friends of the Yarmouth Light society, which represents the Cape Forchu light station, said the province has to focus on new markets.

While many tourists continue to hail from Atlantic Canada, Ontario and New England, he said more visitors are coming from Europe and emerging markets.

“After Labour Day, most of the visitors we see are from European countries like Germany, France and Italy,” he said. “We need to do more to generate more tourism from these areas.”

Also, emerging markets in countries such as China and Brazil present big opportunities to attract more visitors, he said.

The province plans to release an outline of its new tourism strategy during the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia conference in late November.

Kings North MLA Jim Morton said the province completed extensive consultation sessions with the general public and tourism operators to pen the new strategy.

“We discovered that there is a real desire to find more creative ways to collaborate. There was a lot of agreement that the way we’ve always done things is not good enough. The status quo is a challenge we have to overcome.”

In May, the province announced that Extreme Group had been chosen to be the new marketing partner for the Nova Scotia Tourism Agency, beating out Colour, which had been awarded the contract six consecutive times since 1991.

“We used to live in a smaller world and many people came from the U.S. because the dollar was less valuable, the price of gas was low and the world seemed like a safer place.

“Now there is more competition and people are choosing to go further afield on their vacations. We need to market the Nova Scotia brand better, both in traditional markets and in new markets.”